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Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
.]] Elizabeth Collins Stoddard was the matriarch of the Collins family in the 1960s and owner of Collinwood and the Collins Fishing Fleet and Cannery. She was the mother of Carolyn Stoddard. : Elizabeth Collins Stoddard was played by Joan Bennett. Family Elizabeth had a brother, Roger (1, 2). Their father, Jamison Collins (643), died in the mid-1940s and Elizabeth cried for days (17). Elizabeth's husband Paul left her in 1949 and she became a recluse, remaining at the house until he returned (5). The same day, Elizabeth fired the entire staff of servants at Collinwood—maids, chauffeur, gardener—and brought on Matthew Morgan, a cannery worker, to be the sole caretaker and do all of the heavy work around the house (6). Six months later her daughter Carolyn was born (5). In 1957, Roger testified against Burke Devlin in court, sending him to prison. Afterwards, Roger agreed to leave Collinsport and Elizabeth sent him money every month in return. Despite promising never to come back, Roger returned to live at Collinwood ten years later with his son David (10). Elizabeth was very fond of David and saw him as the heir apparent to the family business. When his mother Laura returned, she was reluctant to let him go with her (134, 135). Business and finances When their father died, Elizabeth and Roger received an equal share of his inheritance. Roger quickly spent the entirety of his half, having fun with the money, and put his shares in the family business up for public auction. Elizabeth was forced use some of her remaining inheritance to buy up his shares herself in order to keep the company in the family (41). Elizabeth retained ownership of the Collins Fishing Fleet and Cannery until at least 1967 (8). Ned Calder managed the business for fifteen years until 1967 when he decided to resign. His resignation came immediately following Elizabeth's rejection of his offer of marriage (39, 44). She told him she hoped she never saw him again and he moved away to Portland to work at another job (39). Elizabeth had hoped that Roger would take over as manager, but instead Bill Malloy, a friend of hers for over twenty-five years, was promoted to fill in the position (8, 44, 50). When Burke Devlin returned to Collinsport a few months later and started stirring trouble, Liz feared that he'd try to financially destroy her, so she called called Ned and asked him to return to work for her. He declined, refusing to return to work unless she changed her mind about marrying him (1, 36, 39, 44). Liz made all of the important decisions with the business, speaking with Malloy every morning (8). He also came up to see her at Collinwood once a week (1). In 1967, Liz approved a machine which increased canning time but resulted in no layoffs (39). The east wing of Collinwood was closed off in around 1916 and most of the house fell into disuse (2). Elizabeth successfully petitioned to have the property tax reduced due to most of the house being closed. The house was more of a liability than an asset and by 1967 it was only Collins-owned property without a mortgage (42). John Harris in Bangor managed all of the family banking. He and Elizabeth knew each other for a long time, though she hadn't met with him at all from 1963 until 1967 when she called him up to Collinwood to set up a trust fund for David. The creation of the trust fund made money very tight as Elizabeth had tied up most of her assets to purchase Roger's side of the company. This was a weakness that Burke Devlin had planned to exploit (44). The Collins legal affairs were handled by Garner and Garner, a Bangor law firm headed up by Richard Garner and Frank Garner (92, 94). Victoria Winters In 1967, Elizabeth hired Victoria Winters from New York to come and be a governess and companion for David (1). She told Carolyn that she brought Vicki there to give her (Carolyn) a chance to get married and leave Collinwood (8). Victoria was extremely curious about why she was chosen to tutor David, but Elizabeth was very vague about it, merely saying someone recommended her (6). Eventually, Liz forced Roger to play along and tell Vicki that an anonymous donor to the Hammond Foundling Home had recommended her (25). Life In the 1960s, Elizabeth lived in Collinwood with Carolyn, Roger, and Roger's son David. She still hadn't left Widows' Hill as of 1967, having been there for eighteen years (1). Elizabeth often played the piano (2, 47). On top of everything that Mrs. Stoddard is dealing with, the vengeful witch Angelique Bouchard Collins, who had married Barnabas Collins long ago, is hexing, killing, and terrorizing people and making people see things, the most unforgettable being her spell spoken right into a sherry one day that Mrs Collins drinks which makes Mrs. Collins continually think of and dream of her death for a long period of time. Appearances 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 32, 33, 36, 37*, 38, 39, 41, 42, 44, 47, 134, 135, 208, 210, 211, 212, 213, 216, 218, 220, 223, 224, 228 :*Sobbing is heard, but Elizabeth is not seen. Collins, Elizabeth Collins, Elizabeth